Writing from the Place: TEN THINGS FOUND ON YOUR MANUSCRIPT

In case you think we're all serious and no fun, we pulled out stacks of manuscripts and studied them with magnifying lenses to determine what exactly had accumulated on the pages.

It's like a study of forensics, and we here at The Place (being K. A. Holt, Jessica Lee Anderson , E. Kristin Anderson, Madeline Smoot, Mari Mancusi, and sometimes member Jenny Ziegler) want to share the battle stories and good times our manuscripts have seen with you.


We give you The Top Ten Things Found on Any Manuscript:

1) Lots of red ink

This one is pretty obvious.

2) Coffee, tea, guacamole, salsa dribbles, etc.

Anyone else besides me have a full set of these?

3) Blood, tears
Might be from rejection, requests, or offers of acceptance


4) Signs of pets
A sleeping cat, who refuses to wake up so you can revise
Dog bite marks and slobber

For those of us like Data who write only on the computer

5) Scribbles from a kiddo
I sometimes think maybe I should just let the kids write the book.


6) Chocolate fingerprints
Please don't try to blame this one on the kiddo, too.


7) Random phone numbers with no names attached from when you answered the phone while you were editing

Who knows the source of the number?

8) Partial grocery list
And now you realize you not only have to finish revisions, but you still have to go grocery shopping. *sigh*


9) Sunblock grease, for when you were reading over your edits by the pool

Because, as Mari reminds us, there has to be some fun involved

10) Ideas for a new, way better book